Click to read The Westchester Guardian – October 3, 2013 edition

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Lorraine Lopez (left) and former Mayor Phil Amicone (right) during a past Thanksgiving Day distribution drive.>>>

YONKERS, NY – February 6, 2012 — Lorraine Lopez worked as the food drive coordinator at the Yonkers Office of Constituent Services. It was claimed that under her aegis and effort over 3,000 Thanksgiving meals were provided in 2010.  The financial stress felt throughout the country also revealed itself in Yonkers. Donations were down, hunger continued to grip those who could not easily fend off the higher costs for food. The Thanksgiving table promised a beautiful table bedecked with trimming laid out about a roasted turkey placed in the middle of a table with family and friends about it, enjoying the meal and the company. 2011 would conjure images that would sate the stomach and quiet its growl of hunger pangs. And yet, despite the charitable donations and the empathy of many, the needy would not be served in 2011. They would be collectively dismissed by the now former Phil Amicone Administration; it seems Lorraine Lopez, in her presumed effort to comply with her yearly task, did not. The fact is that she solicited and received a donation of $8,000.00 from one donor. But rather than using it to serve those in need, Ms Lopez is said to have cashed the check, as permitted by a protocol set up by former Mayor Phil Amicone, through the Yonkers Parking Violations Bureau.

It was only when the donor inquired as to how many turkeys were purchased for the $8,000.00 donation he magnanimously gave, that the ruse was allegedly revealed.

Yonkers Tribune (YT) and The Westchester Guardian (WG) inquired of two prospective donors if they were the donors. One advised he had not made the donation whereas another spoke for her boss and was adamant that, “It’s not him.” The issue is not who the donor was or is. At issue is the protocol devised and encouraged by former Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone that devised an almost foolproof mechanism to skirt internal and external scrutiny. It seems the Amicone Administration had devised a money laundering operation that had taken place under the watch of Yonkers Inspector General Dan Schorr, as well as the auditors hired to be watchful of such conduct.

Lest there be some among our readers who will suggest to blame anyone of the departments who failed to find an avenue to reveal this alleged treachery, please recognize that the conduct was condoned by and under the time of the Amicone Administration with the said knowledge and approval of then Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone.

Also, it is curious that while many would unlikely have figured out the alleged scam and scheme, there were also none that the YT / WG were advised gave notice that the Thanksgiving Turkey drive was a non-event. Again, those that may have been in the know were scared of the retribution so often conducted by the Amicone Administration by its many minions who are still to be found walking the hallways of City Hall and its ancillary government offices.

Another situation that demands the attention of Inspector General Dan Schorr whose lackluster performance continues to be wanting. If anything, this allegation must be investigated by the office of the Westchester County District Attorney.

Now you know the entire story.

The post Investigative Report: The Grinch Who Stole Thanksgiving 2011 is Alleged to Be Lorraine Lopez By HEZI ARIS appeared first on Yonkers Tribune.

We have become consumed by the game unaware that the fights we have fought have been pointless and have exhausted our will. In fighting for control, engaged in a rut for supremacy, we have lost the strength to continue. Those whom we loath have stepped before us, won the prize, and have lauded over us for well over a decade. We got giddy when we were the ones to call others “naysayers,” even though we knew that they were not necessarily so. That was the game. We would carry out the “ploy” with which we were entrusted to win favor among our “friends and family network” brethren. We were family. We were “right” in our thinking and in our vision.

We never did learn the fights were pointless; even though forks in the road forced a time out, here and there. We had a quick respite to reassess. But we would not. We were now in fear of the “friends and family network.” We knew all too well the retribution they could and would exact. We were stuck in the plot of our choosing. We were no longer in control of our destiny.

Still we endured; enjoying the momentary opportunity we had in blocking our adversaries from moving forward on their vision of control of us. We never did learn to get along. We didn’t want to find a bridge; we forgot that such a mechanism existed. We were within our comfort zone when we could point a finger of admonition and derision toward another, brandishing them the naysayer, the outcasts within our midst.

Believers and skeptics alike would “bitch and bicker” among themselves. They no longer cared if the end game would come to pass; so long as they could be in the game, they would be sufficiently sated. We loved kicking our adversaries in the shins. Laughed our heads off at the pain it would exact their gait. We enjoyed the ancillary aspects of the fight. We had long since forgotten why we were adversaries.

Even so, we hoped to proselytize anyone we could into the fold. It was a futile effort. Some would gravitate to one side; others to the opposite side. There was no proof by which to judge who was right and who was wrong.

We have been unable to raise logic beyond the ground floor where it is seemingly stuck. We are still bickering over our belief system. What I believe is superior to your belief system, or vice versa. It is as though your God is stronger and wiser than mine; or vise versa.  We have yet to get beyond this superfluous issue. God is the ultimate no matter how you may address him/her.

There is no rational perspective to change the skeptic’s mindset, or that of the believer. Neither is certain of the foundation upon which their beliefs are held.

The paradigm defined above describes all Yonkersites, and those within other communities. We are alike in many ways; in our obtuse recalcitrance and in our earnestness to explore. Shouting at each other, pointing fingers within our midst will not do.

We are at another fork in the road; an opportunity often before us, trampled by our not knowing what to do.

If you believe, shout it out. Find the vehicle to celebrate your knowledge. Reach out beyond the comfort of your friends.

Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone continues to rape the City of Yonkers in broad daylight. There has yet to be found, even one among us, who will challenge him from the “burn and slash” departure he has chosen as his farewell.

Media will not be able to stop his plunder. We can only bear witness for his lack of benevolence, his arrogance, his retribution, and the shame with which he has soiled the City of Yonkers.

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Listen live at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/westchesteronthelevel and join the conversation by calling us toll-free at 1-877-674-2436. For those who cannot join us live, listen to the show by way of an MP3 download or on demand after 12:30 p.m., November 23, 2011, at the following link:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/westchesteronthelevel/2011/11/23/westchester-on-the-level

Our entire archive is available and maintained for your perusal. The easiest way to find a particular interview is to simply search in Google or other search engine for the name of the interviewee.

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The sources are credible. Even so, I cannot fathom Phil Amicone worthy of consideration for such placement. To second guess Governor Andrew Cuomo prior to his making a final decision on this matter would be foolhardy. There will need to be some rationale for an Amicone appointment to The Business Council of New York State thatpresently escapes me. Do you know what it could be?

Were it to come about, perhaps Mr Amicone will consider paying off the $393,338.00 First Amendment lawsuit he lost in federal court using a layaway plan rather than proceed in asking the Yonkers City Council to indemnify his personal responsibility in settling the outstanding debt. 

What would be the upside for the Empire State, or all New Yorkers? Anyone? Everyone? I thought so, none!

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Read The Westchester Guardian – August 4, 2011 edition

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The People

Those that would grovel at the taskmaster’s feet would soon learn they were not welcomed. A kick in the face, and a second in the derriere was often not enough to dissuade the leeches that so wanted to suckle on the city’s teets. The more they were shunned, the more they were determined to demean themselves before Mayor Amicone, the leader of the “Friends and Family Network.”

By being the largest employer in Yonkers, City Hall could disregard the overall concerns of the populace. Those that worked for City Hall, counting their spouse as a second vote, and many times more their adult voting children, and relatives of the same, together they were sufficient in number to elect a titular head to maintain a moat of disregard for The People.

Today, as in the past, Mayor Amicone concocts another circus act to diminish the public from fully conceptualizing the Transitional Financial Authority (TFA) for what it is. It is nothing more than a one-shot instrument that guts the future power of the checks and balances ordained to be functional, and proven to be so, by the Founding Fathers, for a Trojan Horse that is the last required invitation for the third Control Board to rule over Yonkers’ fiscal affairs. A Control Board would have solved much if it were adopted under more propitious times, perhaps a year ago. Not now, when the $20 million bond would not meet the “goals” set by the mayor, and would further demand repayment that will cost the city taxpayer even more.

Yonkers is bankrupt. Mayor Amicone knows it. Yonkersites know it. Yet, Mayor Amicone will not admit his failure. He can not say he is sorry. He does not have the strength of character to say he made a mistake. He cannot apologize for his “inside” team of misfits, liars, and law breaking enablers. It works if you are a “Friends and Family Network” cohort. It’s all about the money.

The only imprint Yonkers has is The Westchester Bank. Nothing else is functioning, The nValley Technology Center is a failure, The Roosevelt Ballroon and the Phillipsburgh Performing Art Center are failed. The Chicken Island Ballpark has lost its feathers, the Yonkers Waterfront is barren or in default to its creditors. Lawsuit after lawsuit have failed in getting our “fair share” of funding from Albany. The Yonkers Parking Authority is bankrupt but it still gives benefits to the “Family and Friends Network” without batting an eye. Those that rob the city of services rendered skirt the law with claimed references to being made to pay but do not. Their penalties are not made public. It is one cover-up story after another. There is no accounting from the Yonkers Board of Education despite the court ruling demanding it be handed over.

The Inspector General, Dan Schorr is a tool of Mayor Amicone. The Yonkers City Council has also for too long gotten along to get along with Mayor Amicone.

The Yonkers City Council will likely NOT vote in favor of Mayor Amicone’s FY2011-2012 Proposed Budget in the first round. When it is returned after a few line items get finagled, the whole lock, stock and barrel, including the kitchen sink will be approved by a majority of enabling Yonkers City Council Members;The People be damned. And so we will. So it will be written, and so it will be done.

The political establishment have not changed to reflect the post-crash demeanor that engulfs us. Are those standing in the wings to succeed these misfits up to the task?

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